


They Say to Pick Your Battles, But I Choose You

by Johnlocked221b



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bullying, Ed gets sad, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Harvey is an asshole to Ed, Jim is a really swell guy, M/M, Season/Series 01, What's new?, workplace bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 05:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11177928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Johnlocked221b/pseuds/Johnlocked221b
Summary: Harvey is an asshole to Ed and Jim isn't having it.





	They Say to Pick Your Battles, But I Choose You

“The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?”

 

“Why don’t you _take_ that somewhere else, Ed? No one cares about your dumb ass riddles.” Well, Harvey was obviously having a bad day.

 

Ed felt his heart sink and his smile sunk with it. “R-right. Sorry to bother…” With that, he hurried off, clutching the folders to his chest like a shield.

 

Before he got too far, he could hear Jim sigh. “Why don’t you give the kid a break, Harv? He’s just trying to make friends.” Ed froze, out of eyesight, and listened. No one had ever stood up for him before.

 

“Yeah well, acting like a smart ass ain’t the way to make ‘em.” Harvey retorted. Ed could hear a slight bit of shame in his voice from being called out by his partner. _Good._

“Neither is workplace bullying.”

 

“Oh give me a break, Jim. Are we in HR? Is this high school? We’re all adults here. Ed’s just a little weirdo who doesn’t know when he’s not wanted.” Harvey huffed and Jim made a displeased noise.

 

“Maybe if you gave him a chance-“

 

“A _chance_? C’mon partner. You know he’s nothing but a gnat. We don’t befriend gnats, Jim, we _tolerate_ them. We ignore them. Swat them away. Stop trying to play the hero and let’s get to work.”

 

Jim made an affronted noise but said nothing more in Ed’s defense. Ed felt himself shrink with every word from Harvey. Was that how everyone else felt?

 

He looked around at the faces of pity and petulance.  _Of course they feel that way_.

 

Ed swallowed hard and hurried off toward the men’s locker room, pushing past Kristen Kringle in his hurry. And to make matters worse, Officer Dougherty was there to call out “Riddle Man!” on his way past. All heads turned to watch Ed scurry away, including the GCPD’s top detective duo.

 

Jim gave Harvey an unamused look and Harvey only shrugged. For some reason, that chafed Jim the wrong way. He stood and removed his jacket. “Well, when Nygma calls HR, maybe you’ll decide to be a little more ‘ _tolerant’_.”

 

He didn’t give Harvey a chance to reply, instead walking with righteous indignation to the men’s locker room.  He found Ed sitting on the bench, angrily flipping through the file in his hand. When he heard Jim come in, his head snapped toward the door and his glare softened. “Detective Gordon…”

 

“Hey Ed.” Jim greeted softly. “Look, Harvey was just-“

 

“You don’t need to apologize for that oaf. Don’t bother.”

 

Jim carefully sat beside Ed with just a bit of distance between them. “Right. He should probably do that himself.”

 

The corner of Ed’s lips quirked up just a bit at that. “Thank you…for what you said out there.”

 

Jim looked confused. “It wasn’t anything. I just-“

 

Ed shook his head. “It might seem like nothing to you but no one has ever…”

 

“Stood up for you?” Boy, was that sad. “Not even your friends at school?”

 

Ed rubbed his arm and shifted awkwardly. That said it all.

 

“Oh…sorry.” Jim flushed. He didn’t mean to bring that up.

 

“No need to apologize. You wouldn’t have been my friend either.” Ed said sadly.

 

“You don’t know that.” Jim argued. Maybe it was true, but Ed didn’t need to know that. Anyway, Jim was kind of an asshole in high school. He’d changed since then.

 

Ed gave him a look of petulant disbelief. Jim could only sigh. “Look, Harvey shouldn’t have said what he said. He was wrong. He-“

 

“No he wasn’t.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“He wasn’t wrong.” Ed stated, as if it were just a fact. “No one wants me around.”

 

Jim didn’t know what to say to that.

 

Ed looked down at his hands, picking at his lab coat to keep himself from tearing up. “I understand.”

 

“I like to think it’s because they don’t like being stumped.” Jim said. Ed looked over at him and Jim continued. “I mean, most of your puzzles go over their heads, especially Harvey’s. The human ego is extremely fragile. They don’t like being wrong. They don’t like knowing they might not be as smart as they like to think.”

 

Ed smiled, just a little.  “Veterans always have it, children rarely give it, but all deserve to receive it.”

 

Jim hummed in thought and then shook his head.

 

“Appreciation. Thank you.” Ed said softly and then leaned over, kissing Jim’s cheek.

 

He then promptly stood and scurried out of the door, leaving Jim red-cheeked and smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> This mostly stemmed from a need to validate Ed's emotional hurt after Harvey bullies him. As much as we may love Harvey, we can't deny that's exactly what it was, and that it wasn't fucking fair to Ed. It always hurt to see Ed's smile fall when Harvey snapped at him and I could tell Jim wanted to say something.  
> So here ya go!


End file.
